Eglantyne Jebb: She Was Arrested for a Photo… Then She Started Save the Children

In 1919, a woman handed out leaflets in London with a photo of a hungry child.

The police arrested her.

Then the lawyer who spoke against her in court gave her £5.

This is the story of Eglantyne Jebb.

Leaflet.

A leaflet is a piece of paper with information, often given out for free.

She handed out leaflets in Trafalgar Square.

Fine.

A fine is money that you must pay when you break a rule or a law.

The court gave her a fine of £5.

Fund.

A fund is money that people collect for a special purpose.

His £5 was the first gift to her new fund.

Declaration.

A declaration is an important official statement.

Her declaration had just five short points.

Rights.

Rights are the things that every person should be allowed to have or do.

Today, almost every country agrees that children have rights.

Now, one pattern: have the right to, plus a verb.

It means that someone should be allowed to do or have something.

Every child should be fed.

Every child has the right to be fed.

Ready?

Let's begin.

Eglantyne Jebb was British.

She was once a teacher, but she said that she didn't much like children!

In 1919, she and her sister Dorothy were working to help hungry families in Europe.

The First World War was over, but British ships still stopped food from reaching Germany and Austria, and many children there were very hungry.

Eglantyne believed that every child had the right to be fed, even in an enemy country.

So she made a leaflet with a photo of a very thin little girl from Austria, just two and a half years old.

Above it were the words: "Our blockade has caused this."

In April, she and a friend handed out the leaflets in Trafalgar Square.

But a wartime law said that the government had to check leaflets first, and it had not checked hers.

The police arrested both women.

In May, she went to court and spoke for herself about the hungry children.

The court found her guilty, but it gave her a fine of only £5.

She told her mother it felt like a victory.

Then something surprising happened.

The lawyer who had spoken against her gave her £5, the same as her fine.

He was moved by her care for the children.

She paid the fine herself.

His £5 was the first gift to her new fund.

On the nineteenth of May, the sisters held a big meeting at the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Some angry people brought rotten fruit and vegetables to throw at them, for helping the enemy's children.

Then Eglantyne asked: how could anyone just watch children die of hunger?

The hall went quiet.

The potatoes went back into the bags, and people took out their money instead.

The Save the Children Fund had begun.

Soon, the fund was helping children in many countries.

People say that later, on a mountain above Geneva, in Switzerland, Eglantyne wrote a short declaration about children.

Her declaration had just five short points.

In simple words: a hungry child has the right to be fed, and a sick child has the right to be cared for.

In 1924, the League of Nations, a group of many countries, agreed with it.

Later, the United Nations built on her ideas, on 20 November, in 1959 and again in 1989.

So that day is now World Children's Day.

Today, almost every country agrees that children have rights.

Every child has the right to learn, to play and to be safe.

Let's review.

She handed out leaflets in Trafalgar Square.

The court gave her a fine of £5.

His £5 was the first gift to her new fund.

Her declaration had just five short points.

Today, almost every country agrees that children have rights.

And remember: every child has the right to be fed.

Eglantyne Jebb's story teaches us: a hungry child is never our enemy.